Historical Branch Rickey Winners
The Branch Rickey award has a long history that dates back to 1989. The award itself has as many hits as it does misses, so winning the award does not guarantee major league success. Mike Huff started it all off and Mike Huff should give you fair warning when the winner is older than twenty-four. Huff had a major league career but not a good one.
Player of the Year:
The Golden Hits- Mike Piazza, Paul Konerko, Corey Seager
The Hits – Eric Karros, Franklin Gutierrez, James Loney, Dee Gordon, Joc Pederson
The misses – Billy Ashley, Andy LaRoche, Jerry Sands, Scott Van Slyke
The whiffs – Adam Riggs, Angel Pena, Chin-Feng Chen, Joe Thurston, Phil Hiatt, Joel Guzman, Chin-lung Hu, Ivan De-Jesus,
Pitcher of the Year:
The Best Pitcher Ever – Pedro Martinez
The I look like Fernando but that was about it – Dennys Reyes
The guys who broke my heart because I thought were going to be our Sandy and Don – Greg Miller and Edwin Jackson
The All-Stars- Eric Gagne, Chad Billingsley
The Starters – James McDonald, Rubby De La Rosa, John Ely, Julio Urias
The Bullpen – Jim Poole, Todd Williams, Kip Gross, Luke Prokopec, Scott Elbert, Shawn Tolleson,
The Who? – Jamie McAndrew, Greg Hansell, Gary Rath, Billy Neal, Carlos Garcia, Ricardo Rodriguez, Mark Alexander, Zach Lee
Looking at these ages, I think Keibert Ruiz is the youngest prospect to ever win the Player of the Year award. Ruiz entered the season only eighteen years old. Anyone who follows this blog, knows I targeted Ruiz as an up and comer way back in June before he was on anyone’s top ten Dodger list, now he’s the Dodgers best position prospect. Didn’t expect the Dodgers to reward Ruiz with the Branch Rickey Award, I though that would go to Alex Verdugo.
Branch Rickey Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year: 1989-2017
| Year | Player of the Year | POS | League | Pitcher of the Year | League |
| 1989 | Mike Huff | OF | AAA | Jim Poole | A |
| 1990 | Henry Rodriguez | OF | AA | Jamie McAndrew | A+/AA |
| 1991 | Eric Karros | 1st | AAA | Pedro Martinez | AA/AAA |
| 1992 | Mike Piazza | C | AA/AAA | Todd Williams | A+/AA |
| 1993 | Billy Ashley | OF | AAA | Kip Gross | AAA |
| 1994 | Billy Ashley | OF | AAA | Greg Hansell | AAA |
| 1995 | Adam Riggs | Infielder | A+ | Gary Rath | AA/AAA |
| 1996 | Paul Konerko | Infielder | AA/AAA | Billy Neal | A |
| 1997 | Paul Konerko | Infielder | AAA | Dennys Reyes | AA/AAA |
| 1998 | Angel Peña | C | AA | Luke Prokopec | A+/AA |
| 1999 | Chin-Feng Chen | OF | A+ | Eric Gagné | AA |
| 2000 | Joe Thurston | 2B | A+ | Carlos Garcia | A+ |
| 2001 | Phil Hiatt | Infielder | AAA | Ricardo Rodriguez | A |
| 2002 | Joe Thurston | 2B | AAA | Edwin Jackson | |
| 2003 | Franklin Gutierrez | OF | A+/AA | Greg Miller | A+/AA |
| 2004 | Joel Guzman | SS | A+/AA | Chad Billingsley | A+/AA |
| 2005 | Andy LaRoche | 3B | A+/AA | Chad Billingsley | AA |
| 2006 | James Loney | 1B | AAA | Mark Alexander | AA/AAA |
| 2007 | Chin-lung Hu | SS | AA/AAA | James McDonald | A+/AA |
| 2008 | Ivan De Jesus | SS | AA | James McDonald | AA |
| 2009 | Dee Gordon | SS | A | Scott Elbert | AA/AAA |
| 2010 | Jerry Sands | OF | A/AA | Rubby De La Rosa | A/AA |
| 2011 | Scott Van Slyke | OF | AA | Shawn Tolleson | A/AA |
| 2012 | Joc Pederson | OF | A+ | John Ely | AAA |
| 2013 | Scott Schebler | OF | A+ | Zach Lee | AA |
| 2014 | Joc Pederson | OF | AAA | Julio Urias | A+ |
| 2014A | Corey Seager | SS | A+/AA | ||
| 2015 | Alex Verdugo | OF | A/A+ | Zach Lee | AAA |
| 2016 | Edwin Rios | 3B | A/A+/AA | Brock Stewart | A+/AA/AAA |
| 2017 | Keibert Ruiz | C | A/A+ | Walker Buehler | A+/AA/AAA |
Dodgers honor Walker Buehler and Keibert Ruiz
Per the Dodger Press Release:
DODGERS NAME WALKER BUEHLER, KEIBERT RUIZ AS THE BRANCH RICKEY MINOR LEAGUE PITCHER/PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today named right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler as the Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year and catcher Keibert Ruiz as the Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year.
In 24 combined appearances (19 starts) this season with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City, Buehler has a 3-3 record with a 3.36 ERA (31 ER/ 83 IP) and one save, striking out a combined 117 batters against just 29 walks. Buehler started his season dominating the California League, posting a 1.10 ERA (2 ER/16.1 IP) in five starts, before his promotion to Tulsa on May 10.
Buehler then made 11 starts for the Drillers, going 2-2 with a 3.49 ERA (19 ER/49.0 IP), a 1.12 WHIP and a .225 opponent’s batting average. He was named Texas League Pitcher of the Week after his start on June 30, in which he fired 5.1 scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and striking out seven against only one walk. Buehler was promoted to Oklahoma City on July 16 and made three starts – including his first Triple-A victory on July 31 (5.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 6 K) – before being moved to a relief role in August. Since moving to the ‘pen, Buehler has struck out 11 batters in 7.2 innings. Overall, he has limited the opposition to a .224 average with the OKC Dodgers.
The Dodgers originally selected the Lexington, Kentucky native with the 24th overall in the 2015 First-Year Player Draft.
Ruiz, who turned 19 on July 20, was signed out of Venezuela in July 2014 and after a stellar 2016 campaign for Rookie-level Ogden, combined to hit .329 with 56 runs, 22 doubles, two triples, eight home runs, and 49 RBI in 92 games for Single-A Great Lakes and Single-A Rancho Cucamonga this season.
Ruiz began 2017 by slashing .317/372/.423 in 63 games for Single-A Great Lakes and was promoted to Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on July 9. With the Quakes, Ruiz is batting .353 (41-for-116) with six homers, six doubles, 25 RBI and 22 runs scored in 29 games. In 192 career minor-league games, the switch-hitting catcher has slashed .337 /.379/.473 with 11 homers, 52 doubles and 116 RBI.
Buehler and Ruiz will both be presented their respective awards and honored in a pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 23 vs. San Francisco.
Branch Rickey Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year: 1989-2017
| Year | Player of the Year | POS | League | Pitcher of the Year | League |
| 1989 | Mike Huff | OF | AAA | Jim Poole | A |
| 1990 | Henry Rodriguez | OF | AA | Jamie McAndrew | A+/AA |
| 1991 | Eric Karros | 1st | AAA | Pedro Martinez | AA/AAA |
| 1992 | Mike Piazza | C | AA/AAA | Todd Williams | A+/AA |
| 1993 | Billy Ashley | OF | AAA | Kip Gross | AAA |
| 1994 | Billy Ashley | OF | AAA | Greg Hansell | AAA |
| 1995 | Adam Riggs | Infielder | A+ | Gary Rath | AA/AAA |
| 1996 | Paul Konerko | Infielder | AA/AAA | Billy Neal | A |
| 1997 | Paul Konerko | Infielder | AAA | Dennys Reyes | AA/AAA |
| 1998 | Angel Peña | C | AA | Luke Prokopec | A+/AA |
| 1999 | Chin-Feng Chen | OF | A+ | Eric Gagné | AA |
| 2000 | Joe Thurston | 2B | A+ | Carlos Garcia | A+ |
| 2001 | Phil Hiatt | Infielder | AAA | Ricardo Rodriguez | A |
| 2002 | Joe Thurston | 2B | AAA | Edwin Jackson | |
| 2003 | Franklin Gutierrez | OF | A+/AA | Greg Miller | A+/AA |
| 2004 | Joel Guzman | SS | A+/AA | Chad Billingsley | A+/AA |
| 2005 | Andy LaRoche | 3B | A+/AA | Chad Billingsley | AA |
| 2006 | James Loney | 1B | AAA | Mark Alexander | AA/AAA |
| 2007 | Chin-lung Hu | SS | AA/AAA | James McDonald | A+/AA |
| 2008 | Ivan De Jesus | SS | AA | James McDonald | AA |
| 2009 | Dee Gordon | SS | A | Scott Elbert | AA/AAA |
| 2010 | Jerry Sands | OF | A/AA | Rubby De La Rosa | A/AA |
| 2011 | Scott Van Slyke | OF | AA | Shawn Tolleson | A/AA |
| 2012 | Joc Pederson | OF | A+ | John Ely | AAA |
| 2013 | Scott Schebler | OF | A+ | Zach Lee | AA |
| 2014 | Joc Pederson | OF | AAA | Julio Urias | A+ |
| 2014A | Corey Seager | SS | A+/AA | ||
| 2015 | Alex Verdugo | OF | A/A+ | Zach Lee | AAA |
| 2016 | Edwin Rios | 3B | A/A+/AA | Brock Stewart | A+/AA/AAA |
| 2017 | Keibert Ruiz | C | A/A+ | Walker Buehler | A+/AA/AAA |
Rich Hill gets 27 outs, can’t get 28
Rich Hill found out how Harvey Haddix felt fifty-eight years ago when he finished the 9th inning with his no-hitter intact but with no decision because his team was unable to push across a single run.
The Dodgers went quietly in the 10th, and Rich Hill gave up a lead off home run to take the loss 1 – 0. It wasn’t quite Harvey Haddix who pitched twelve perfect innings before giving up an error and ultimately losing the game in the 13th 1 – 0. His opponent, Lew Burdette also went all thirteen innings. Both pitchers combined for twenty – six innings, and still finished the game under 3 hours.
Still, this might have been the toughest loss for a pitcher in the 21st century, even more so when you consider how many runs the Dodgers typically score. Rich Hill could be pardoned if he was humming ” you picked a fine time to leave me Lucille” in reference to the Dodger offense.
The NYT came out this morning with more information on the history of the Rich Hill loss. Turns out that Rich Hill is the first pitcher to lose a no-hitter on a home run in extra innings.
The last pitcher before Hill to throw nine no-hit innings and lose was Mark Gardner of the Expos on June 26, 1991, at Dodger Stadium. With the score 0-0 in the 10th, Gardner allowed singles to Lenny Harris and Eddie Murray before Darryl Strawberry singled off reliever Jeff Fassero to win the game for Los Angeles.
One final tidbit from the story:
And the year after Haddix’s excruciating loss, he was credited with the victory of every pitcher’s dreams: in Game 7 of the World Series, in relief for the Pirates against the Yankees.
The six man rotational disabled list
Jon Weisman tweeted yesterday that the Dodgers have a full rotation on the disabled list.
The Los Angeles Disabled Listers look like they’re headed for a six-man rotation: Kershaw, Darvish, Wood, Urias, McCarthy, Kazmir
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) August 22, 2017
Not just five starters but six
Not just any starters either:
- A 3 time CYA winner and one time MVP
- A four-time all-star
- A one time all-star with a 14 – 1 record in 2017
- A guy who was supposed to be future Cy Young and was the greatest teenage pitcher in LAD history
- Two pitchers making a combined $29,000,000 in 2017
- Those pitchers are making a combined $80,000,000
And they haven’t missed a beat because they still have a full rotation of arms with Rich Hill. Ryu, Kenta Maeda and Brock Stewart. No matter who starts, the Dodgers win. and win. and win.
They have an opening this Saturday before the arms start coming back. Yu Darvish will be back Sunday. Kershaw and McCarthy will both pitch rehab games this week. Kershaw will be back next week. McCarthy should follow shortly. Basically, by Sept 1st, the Dodgers will be adding at least three arms back into the rotation, and possibly four as Alex Wood is simply resting.
This Saturday could be intriguing. They could just use Ross Stripling and make it a bullpen game, They could give Wilmer Font a shot but Eric Stephen pointed out the complications of that move.
The best option might be Wilmer Font, who leads the Pacific Coast League with 170 strikeouts in 128⅓ innings, to go with his 3.58 ERA in 24 starts. His addition would acquire a corresponding move since he is not on the 40-man roster.
But given how well the 27-year-old has pitched this season, coupled with the fact that he’ll be a minor league free agent at season’s end, he was a potential September addition to the Dodgers roster anyway. If the Dodgers were planning to add Font in September, bringing him up a week early doesn’t present too much more of an obstacle, other than that Font can’t be optioned back to the minors, having used his four option seasons in 2011-14.
I’m hoping for Font, might be his only chance to start a game in 2017 before all the arms come back.
The Monthly walk LAD leaderboard
With Yasiel Puig taking walks this month more than he has ever done before, I decided to bring back the leaderboard for walks in a month.
Of course, Jimmy Wynn is on top, that was his bread and butter. How about the rest of the group that has managed at least twenty-three walks in a month?
- Jim Gilliam had quite the month of June in 1959. He not only walked twenty-seven times, he also hit a blistering .431 to give him an OBP for the month of .536. That sounds really high but when I run the numbers that is only the 5th best OBP for a month by a LAD. I’ll show you that table tomorrow.
- Dick Allen was also known for the walk and his 26 walks were good for 3rd place. Jimmy Wynn played two years and has the best monthly total, while Dick Allen was only here for one year and had the third best total. Maybe Al Campanis wasn’t a fan of the walk?
- The largest split between BA and OBP belongs to Gary Sheffield who managed an OBP of .407 even though he only hit .226. Gary made the list twice and was the only player with double digit home runs in the same month he walked over twenty-three times.
- Other patient players I was not surprised to see on the list were JD Drew, Brett Butler, and Reggie Smith.
- I was surprised to see Jose Offerman. He and Davey Lopes were the only players to have over twenty-three walks in a month but not hit at least one home run.
- Gilliam and Brett Butler were the only two who managed at least twenty-three walks and hit over .400. Couldn’t keep those guys off base.
Player Split Year BB PA HR BA OBP SLG OPS Jim Wynn June 1975 29 122 3 .283 .451 .457 .907 Jim Gilliam June 1959 27 139 2 .431 .536 .532 1.068 Dick Allen August 1971 26 114 3 .276 .439 .414 .852 Gary Sheffield Sept/Oct 1999 26 113 12 .226 .407 .667 1.074 Gary Sheffield July 2000 26 112 7 .353 .509 .671 1.180 Wally Moon May 1961 24 95 2 .324 .495 .493 .988 Jose Offerman May 1995 23 128 0 .356 .480 .455 .935 Reggie Smith June 1977 23 112 3 .271 .432 .435 .868 Shawn Green May 2000 23 118 5 .367 .508 .667 1.175 Pedro Guerrero August 1982 23 139 8 .360 .475 .614 1.089 Davey Lopes April/March 1975 23 114 0 .276 .432 .356 .789 Russell Martin April/March 2008 23 114 3 .292 .439 .449 .888 J.D. Drew Sept/Oct 2006 23 106 6 .317 .462 .683 1.145 Brett Butler July 1992 22 124 1 .442 .547 .547 1.094
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/23/2017.
October bullpen countdown
The Dodgers have two big decisions to make come October. Who will start game three and game four, and who will make up the October bullpen.
The bullpen is so crowded that when I did my breakdown of the Walker Buehler chances I forgot to mention Josh Fields who reminded me tonight how foolish that was.
The bullpen has been taxed over the last two nights, but they came through and helped the Dodgers to two victories. Morrow and Avilan further cemented their locked in status for the October bullpen. Watson had one good outing and one bad outing. Cingrani was outstanding tonight along with Josh Fields. Ross Stripling did the job last night but Pedro Baez showed why he still makes most Dodger fans nervous. By all accounts, Pedro Baez has been outstanding this year, but every time we say that he seems to have a game like last night. Brock Stewart did himself no favors with his poor showing tonight. Josh Ravin has to be a huge longshot but after giving up the double that did in the ERA of Brock Stewart he was fantastic.
I think we have four locks with Jansen, Morrow, Avilan, and Watson. Maybe Cingrani is a lock. Fields might be. You’d think Baez would be. Will all the rotation pieces end up on the outside looking in?
Stay tuned, this is the one battle that will make Sept interesting.
| Pitcher | Position | October | 8/21/2017 | 8/22/2017 |
| Kenley Jansen | Closer | Locked | ||
| Brandon Morrow | RHSetup | Locked | +++ | |
| Luis Avilan | LHSetup | Locked | +++ | +++ |
| Tony Watson | LHSetup | Locked | – | +++ |
| Tony Cingrani | LHSetup | Maybe | +++ | |
| Josh Fields | RHSetup | Maybe | +++ | +++ |
| Pedro Baez | RHSetup | Maybe | — | |
| Ross Stripling | RHSetup | Maybe | +++ | |
| Brock Stewart | RHSetup | Maybe | — | |
| Ryu | LHSetup | Maybe | ||
| McCarthy | RHSetup | Maybe | ||
| Kenta | RHSetup | Maybe | ||
| Josh Ravin | RHSetup | Maybe | ++ | |
| Walker Buehler | RHSetup | Maybe |
Puig has added the walk to his repetiore
Puig has fifteen walks in August which made me run a search to find out how many Dodgers had at least fifteen walks since Puig started playing baseball in 2013.
Some surprising findings:
- This only the second time in his career that he has gotten at least fifteen walks in a month.
- Adrian Gonzalez has only done it once since 2013 despite playing every day until this year.
- Yazmani Grandal has only done it once despite a reputation as a patient/power hitter.
- Hanley Ramirez only did it once
- Justin Turner has only done it once
- Chris Taylor has only done it once but this is his first full-time season.
- Corey Seager has done it twice this year
- Joc Pederson currently playing in AAA has done it five times but four of those five times came back in 2015.
I expected more. Much more.
Player Split Year BB PA BA OBP SLG OPS Adrian Gonzalez Sept/Oct 2015 15 115 .232 .330 .364 .694 Yasmani Grandal August 2016 16 91 .253 .385 .560 .945 Joc Pederson Sept/Oct 2016 15 79 .286 .430 .651 1.081 Joc Pederson May 2015 16 123 .236 .341 .519 .860 Joc Pederson April/March 2015 17 77 .298 .461 .596 1.057 Joc Pederson August 2015 21 74 .120 .384 .260 .644 Joc Pederson June 2015 22 124 .222 .379 .495 .874 Yasiel Puig August 2017 15 68 .226 .397 .472 .869 Yasiel Puig May 2014 17 128 .398 .492 .731 1.224 Hanley Ramirez June 2014 15 84 .294 .417 .441 .858 Corey Seager April/March 2017 15 107 .319 .411 .549 .961 Corey Seager May 2017 17 116 .255 .371 .388 .758 Chris Taylor May 2017 17 107 .322 .430 .511 .941 Justin Turner July 2017 18 94 .260 .404 .507 .911
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/22/2017.
A Sidewalk Sunflower Season
Chapter One:
The Goldfinch picked at the sunflower and gobbled up the ripe seed while keeping one eye and both ears on the interested feline below. The bell tinkled on the cat’s neck, setting off the alarm within the Goldfinch and so he bounced into the sky for safety but the seed he had just plucked fell loose and headed for the ground.
The seed was pleased to be spared and hoped to land in the same fertile earth that she had spawned from as so many of her brethren had done before her, generation after generation, but the goldfinches momentum as he took to the sky had changed the direction of the path and instead of landing in the fertile earth with its brethren it landed softly on a concrete path.
A collective ohhhhhhhhhhhhh resonated from all the seeds in the earth, as they knew that only death awaited the seed. Would it be a quick death as a bird or animal could easily see the ripe seed laying on the concrete, or would the large earth matter who tended them sweep it up during his daily ritual of keeping the concrete clean of vegetative matter?
Night came to the garden, the seed could only wait out its fate. It was very warm where she had fallen and even if she survived the night without bringing substance to the raccoons or ground squirrels, or the sweeping, the heat of the concrete during full sun tomorrow would bake the seed into oblivion. She needed the earth to survive but that didn’t seem likely. She felt other seeds around her, she knew she was not alone. Many had fallen just like her to the concrete. She came from such a huge floret that the gluttonous birds worked faster than they could eat, with many full seeds falling to the ground. Some made it to the earth, but many also landed like her on the concrete.
The ground squirrel came whirling up to the garden plot. He picked up a few of the ripe seeds on the concrete but his focus was on the sunflower itself. As he shuffled up and raised his tiny arm to grab a low hanging sunflower his hind legs kicked a few sunflowers seeds into the crevice between where the two concrete footing met. Years ago the crevice would have been completely solid but time had worked a few holes in the crevice. As luck would have it, she was kicked into the one spot that had such a hole. She had her earth but it was a tenuous life she clung onto.
She felt great life within her and was determined to see what she could make of it even though she only had a 1/2 inch of dirt to work with. In just one night her fortunes had changed as she had made landfall, while the other seeds had either been eaten by the foraging ground squirrel or were still sitting on the concrete.
The next day, the large earthen creature, swept up the seeds on the concrete and placed them into a tub. She hunkered down hoping to escape the brushes that came dangerously close to including her in the murderous roundup. It was finally done, and once again she had survived.
She tried to stay awake but the voice of nature was calling her to sleep. It was a voice you could not ignore, and before the season turned to fall she had fallen into a deep sleep, and would not wake until nature told her too.
The odds of being alive to hear that alarm clock going off were infinitesimally small.
Almost as small as the Dodgers winning 110 games in one season.
Almost as small as Chris Taylor being the leadoff hitter, playing CF, for a team on pace to win more games than any in the history of the Dodger franchise
Almost as small as an AAA player getting called up in late April and hitting more home runs than any rookie in Dodger history
Almost as small as an injury prone Morrow finding out he has many more tomorrows.
So it turns out, those weren’t bad odds at all, were they?
Walker Buehler relief experiment
Watching Pedro Baez struggle last night, I was left wondering how the Walker Buehler experiment is doing.
Walker Buehler is currently the Dodgers top pitching prospect and after a disastrous first start in AAA he settled down and looked more like the Dodgers top pitching prospect. A few weeks ago the Dodger front office moved Walker from the rotation in AAA to the bullpen and said they might consider him for October in a relief role. I kind of scoffed at the idea given that Walker admitted he was mentally shaky in his first start in AAA. How could a guy who couldn’t handle the dim lights of a debut AAA start shine in October when the glare is magnified 100 times and looks like this?
The hurdles for Buehler are significant.
- He has to prove dominant as a setup man in AAA
- He has to get promoted to the Dodgers and prove dominant in highly leveraged outings.
- He needs an opening
Hurdle one has been hit and miss. Walker has made five appearances and been dominant in two of the five. In the other three, he has given up eight hits while getting eleven outs. That percentage of success won’t cut it in October.
Date Inngs IP H ER BB SO HR 2017-08-05 7-8 1.1 2 3 1 2 1 2017-08-09 7-9 2.0 1 0 2 1 0 2017-08-13 (2) 6-7 2.0 0 0 0 5 0 2017-08-16 (2) 6-6 1.0 3 1 0 1 0 2017-08-20 6-7 1.1 3 1 0 2 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/22/2017.
The first part of hurdle two will probably happen as soon as the rosters open up in Sept. From that point on we can see how he does but we do have to keep in mind that no game in Sept is a must win game, while every game in October will be.
One misstep by the rookie could bring an end to the historic Dodger campaign.
Is there any room for him? We have to remember that only four of the seven Dodger starters will be in the rotation leaving McCarthy, Ryu, and probably Kenta as pitchers available for bullpen duty, and all of them could be useful in that role. You also have Brock Stewart who has given up just two earned runs in seven games in relief.
Kenley Jansen, Brandon Morrow, Luis Avilan, Tony Watson, Tony Cingrani, Javier Baez, Ross Stripling, Brock Stewart, McCarthy, Ryu, and either Kenta/Hill/Wood.
I’m just not sure where Walker would fit even if he has a great Sept unless the names mentioned above suffer some injuries or implode. A few of them have to be left off anyway.
I guess it is a good problem because if Walker Buehler does push his way onto the October roster because of performance, it would have had to have been an incredible run.
I’m still betting against it while admitting it would be exciting if we could have a Bob Welch situation.
LAD Grand Slams within their first 25 games
Hmm, I have to edit this as I only have it for a Dodger in their 25 games in the majors. Thus Grandy and Chris Taylor don’t count until I figure out how to get them in.
Before 2015 only four LAD had ever hit a grand slam in their first twenty-five games. Three players have done it since the start of the 2015 season. Guerrero, Toles, and Bellinger.
Last year Andrew Toles hit a grand slam on August 31st, Cody Bellinger did it earlier this year on May 6th against the Padres and last night Curtis Granderson pulled it off. Granderson owns all sorts of grand slam fun. He was the first player to ever hit grand slams for two different teams in four days. Remember he hit a grand slam in his last game as a Met becoming the only Met to ever do that. Granderson’s grand slam was most timely as the Dodgers trailed 3 – 0 late when he took Gerrit Cole deep. I’m sure I’m not the only fan who was wondering why Cole was still in the game. During the inning the Dodgers had a single, walk, ground out, single, single and Cole was over 100 pitches and clearly laboring. Later I would find out that the Pirates had entered the game with only three pitchers available so now it made sense, but it didn’t at the time.
Curtis Granderson is the 1st player in MLB history to hit 2 grand slams in a 4-game span for different teams (via @EliasSports) pic.twitter.com/6YDpgIrh8T
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 22, 2017
When Andrew Toles hit his momentous grand slam last night he did it in his 25th career game. Which left me wondering what other LAD have hit a grand slam in their first 25 games.
We all remember Yasiel Puig hitting his first grand slam in his 4th game.
Alex Guerrero did it in his 13th game on April 12th, 2015. Might have been the hit of the year.
Cody Ross had one of the strangest games in LAD rookie history. He hit two home runs including a grand slam on April 13th, 2006 and was traded eleven days later to the Reds.
Oh look , I fit a Bill Sudakis moment in here, what a shock. Billy hit his grand slam in his 7th game on Sept 8th, 1968
Now this was the biggest surprise to me. Norm Sherry did it in his 9th game on May 31st, 1960. I had no idea that Norm Sherry was a rookie in 1960. Wow, look at the career, one could say it very closely mirrors the career of one A.J. Ellis. I’ll have to look at that more later.
Last but not least, Frank Hondo Howard hit one on May 17th, 1960 in his 21st game. Frank Howard would be the only one of these rookies to go onto win the ROY award.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 